A MAN from Harare has appeared in court for allegedly
defrauding Harvest House International Church of $200 000 after falsely
claiming that he could supply bricks for the construction of a church
auditorium in Bulawayo’s Woodlands suburb.
Hussein Noor (43) of Avondale suburb in Harare allegedly
duped the church represented by its administrator Mr Mhlangabezi Ndlovu of
Pumula South suburb.
Bulawayo magistrate Ms Ulukile Mlea-Ndlovu yesterday heard
that Noor told Mr Ndlovu that he was the managing Director of Stone Craft
Corporation Africa Limited.
He allegedly promised to supply the church with 300 000
bricks for the construction of its auditorium.
Noor was not asked to plead to a fraud charge and was
remanded out of custody on bail to November 11 for trial.
Prosecuting, Mr Mufaro Mageza said sometime in April this
year, Noor heard that the church was in the process of constructing an
auditorium.
Between August 2 and August 16 this year, Noor allegedly
hatched a plan to defraud the church.
“On August 2, the accused person phoned Bishop Colin Nyathi
who is the head and founder of the church and introduced himself as Zaine H.
Noor, the managing director of Stone Craft Corporation Africa Limited,” said Mr
Mageza.
“He said the company situated in Harare was in the business
of manufacturing and supplying bricks.”
Noor allegedly sent the bishop samples of the bricks via
WhatsApp and promised to bring the actual samples for physical inspection
later.
“As a precautionary measure, Bishop Nyathi phoned two
reverends in Harare to check on the capacity and authenticity of the accused
person’s alleged company,” said Mr Mageza.
Bishop Nyathi allegedly gave the reverends Noor’s contact
details and when they contacted him, he told them to meet him at Willdale
Bricks, along Lomagundi Road in Mount Hampden just outside Harare.
Upon arrival at Willdale Bricks, Noor took the reverends on
a tour of the plant and claimed that he was its managing director.
He allegedly claimed that Stone Craft Corporation Africa
Limited was a subsidiary of Willdale Bricks.
Noor told the reverends that he could supply all the bricks
in two weeks and they believed him.
He allegedly then met Bishop Nyathi at the church’s
headquarters in Bulawayo and showed him samples of bricks which he claimed had
been manufactured by his company.
Noor allegedly left a business card under the name Zaine H.
Noor.
On the same day, Noor allegedly sent the bishop an email
with a signed contract between his company and the bishop which the latter
signed and returned.
Bishop Nyathi then directed Mr Ndlovu to deposit RTGS$200
000 for the bricks into Tichmil investments’ bank account supplied by the
accused person.
Noor allegedly never delivered the bricks and Mr Ndlovu
later discovered that the company was non-existent.
He reported the matter to the police leading to Noor’s
arrest. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment